How VMware ESX Inventory is Gathered

This lesson provides detail on how Asset Vision gathers inventory information for VMware ESX installations.

vCenter Server Access

vCenter Server Access

Asset Vision uses the vSphere Web Services SDK to collect the required data. Details of this can be found at http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vc-sdk/

This SDK supports authenticated HTTPS for secure remote system access and data transfer. The Asset Vision PAD makes the secure connection to the vCenter Server.

Access Credentials and Rights

VMware requires that a VMware Administrator nominate the Windows account(s) that can access the vCenter Server; the Administrator can further grant the rights desired to that account to allow operation in the vCenter Server environment.

The VMware rights that need to be assigned to the account used by Asset Vision are:

  • System.Anonymous
  • System.View
  • Global.Licenses
  • System.Read